Tag Archives: West

Columnist of “Komsomolskaya Pravda” Dmitry Olshansky muses the question: when all Russian forces tried to be friends with the West, what was prepared as response to them by the “civilized world”?

There is a popular rhetoric (both Moscow and Kiev, the U.S., then everywhere): “We are not against Russia. And we are not against the Russians. We are against Putin. We are against Asian, brutal dictatorship. Against the power of the FSB. Against imperial aggression . Besides that – we are the best friends of the Russian people. ”

Reply to this needs to be the following.

Dear friends!

In Russia, during whole fourteen years – from spring 1985, when Chernenko died, and until the spring of 1999, when you started the famous “humanitarian activities” in Yugoslavia – it was all the way you wanted. Two presidents – Gorbachev and Yeltsin – seriously listened to you, believed you, and did almost anything you wanted from them. The empire, continuously retreating, gave away things for free, withdrew troops, gave independence and nearly washed with soap the feet of all free people. TV was full of liberal ideas, and millions of copies of magazines and newspapers filled up with “crimes of Stalin.” The government consisted largely of the same.

Yes, there was the most important thing – the country itself was exactly the way as you all wanted it – all of you, the Moscow’s Tel Aviv patriot, Kolomoyskyi’s fans, and the American ambassador. The whole country wanted “to be friends with America” and “be part of the civilized world.” Euro-integrated, as they say now.

So there you had it all.

And what was the answer of the “civilized world” to this splendor?

And the answer was:

We will not give money.

No “Marshall Plan.”

No neutral countries – everywhere where Russia leaves, NATO comes.

No “rights of Russians” (especially clear in Baltic republics).

No Crimean autonomy (and there was not yet even a trace of the “hand of Moscow”, Crimeans fought all by themselves then).

Ukraine – a country of Ukrainians and Russians, Kiev – the capital of two cultures? Not at all. Ukrainization, People’s Movement of Ukraine and Ukrainian National Assembly.